Lost Snapshots
by monkey-in-hell
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin.
1. Chapter 1

A/N More fluffy stuff, I'm afraid. There'll be one more after this and then I think that'll be me done and dusted.

Alex held her precious bundle close, her eyes tracing over every inch of his small face as one finger and thumb caressed a small exposed hand. She breathed in his scent whilst her son slept peacefully on and she let that swell of emotion wash over her again. She might be undeniably biased and extremely proud but her son was, without a doubt, gorgeous and entirely worth every second of pain that she'd endured the previous day. She'd fallen head over heels in love with him the moment he'd been placed into her arms and she never wanted to let go of him.

There was a tinge of sadness to accompany her euphoria; the arrival of her baby son had also evoked memories of her daughter and consequently the pain of her loss. She closed her eyes briefly, picturing her eldest child smiling her approval; the last time she had 'seen' Molly had been a week or so after her parents had died, her disappearance dashing her hopes of ever getting home. Opening her eyes she smiled down warmly at her son, refusing to let those darker feelings mar what she had right now; her daughter's absence may have left her resigned to this world but her son's conception had signalled the start of her acceptance of this life. And she had savoured every moment since then and would continue to do so, no matter what her future held.

Those thoughts faded away from her at the sound of approaching footsteps. When the curtains around her bed parted she expected to see Gene emerge through them but it was Shaz who strode towards her, a bunch of flowers in the younger woman's hands and a big smile on her face.

"Congratulations," Shaz offered as she placed the flowers down on the bedside table to better enable her first peek at the child. "I'm not interrupting, am I?" she added on quickly. She'd been impatiently counting down the hours until visiting time before deciding to use her uniform to wrangle her way in early instead.

"No, of course not," Alex assured the woman, who had become more of a friend than a colleague these last few months, warmly. "Gene's not turned up yet. Must have been a good night." She'd had absolutely no objections the previous night to Gene disappearing to celebrate their new arrival. Sore and completely exhausted she'd been thankful for the opportunity to get some rest and after assuring him that there was nothing else he could do for her she'd ushered him away.

Shaz nodded enthusiastically. "I've never seen the Guv smile so much!" she admitted quietly, remembering how he'd taken every pat on the back and murmur of congratulations that had been thrown his way as if he'd done all the hard work himself. She'd joined in the rowdy celebrations herself, the good news and the Guv's good mood had seemed to lift everyone's spirits, but in truth she would have rather visited Alex and the baby last night instead.

"Wet the baby's head, did they?" Alex smiled as she asked, picturing Gene standing proudly at the bar, announcing the birth of his son with as much aplomb as he'd used to announce the pregnancy. He wasn't one for sharing his emotions with others - it'd taken long enough for him to open up just a little with her - but a real man, at least Gene's perception of a real man, was allowed to show some emotion at the birth of his child without being seen as soft. But she'd seen him soften with their son. She'd seen him, after some gentle coaxing from herself, cradle his child in his arms with such tenderness and awe and love that she'd almost forgot to breathe at the sight. It was an image that she knew he'd never want her to share with others but one that she also knew she'd never forget.

"Drowned it more like," Shaz said quietly. Chris and Ray had escorted Gene up to Alex's old flat quite late in the night, despite the Guv's assertions that he was fine. By all rights he would be like a bear with a sore head this morning but hopefully she'd arrived early enough to avoid him. "Can I hold him?" Shaz asked nervously, letting out her breath softly when, after the briefest of hesitations, Alex complied. She leant forward to take the baby gently into her arms, offering the new mother a reassuring smile as she did so. "He's so cute," she whispered, using her free hand to pull back the blanket from the infant's face and marvelling over the tiny features and closed eyes. She hadn't expected to be so susceptible but a wave of maternal desire washed over her at the sight.

Alex could only agree with the younger woman's assessment, musing quietly, "He just needs a name." They hadn't actually made a decision in that respect - they couldn't agree on anything, especially not for a boy. Well, it was more that Gene wouldn't agree and, apart from his suggestion of naming their son after an entire football team, he hadn't been very forthcoming with ideas either, only going as far as dismissing those names he deemed 'too soft' or 'too posh'. She had suggested both Sam and Tyler as possibilities, knowing how much the man had meant to Gene, knowing how much she owed Sam for her life here, but Gene had quickly dismissed both suggestions, point blank refusing to name his child after somebody else - no matter who they were. She'd whittled down the possibilities over the last few weeks but now that her son was here none of them seemed to suit him. They'd have to think of something soon though, they couldn't go around calling him 'son' or 'the boy' for the rest of his life.

Shaz tore her gaze away from the child and looked up quickly, unable to stop herself from mouthing a quiet 'oh' at the revelation. Unfortunately it didn't go unrecognised by the older woman.

"What?" Alex asked slowly.

"It's just that..." Shaz began before pausing to think better of it. But it was too late now. "Last night the Guv was telling everyone that you were calling -" Shaz broke off quickly as the curtains swung open and the Guv walked in.

Gene's gaze fell on Alex first, only falling to her visitor as the sudden silence that had greeted him continued. The former looked vaguely annoyed whilst the latter just looked like she suddenly wanted to be somewhere else. The speed at which she deposited his son in Alex's arms and made her escape confirmed his assessment of Shaz but it didn't explain the glare he was receiving from Alex. Noticing the bunch of flowers on the bedside cabinet he silently cursed the younger woman for being so thoughtful as he'd turned up empty-handed.

"Why does Shaz think my son has a name?" Alex asked quietly, her eyes on his and her voice kept low for the sake of her baby. The question was entirely redundant but she wanted to hear his explanation.

Gene pouted; he'd forgotten about that - maybe he hadn't turned up empty handed after all. Things had been a bit blurry earlier in the morning. Waking up in Luigi's flat had caused a bit of disorientation at first, especially as Alex hadn't been there with him. He'd got used to waking up next to her, usually with her taking over most of the bed - though towards the end of the pregnancy she'd certainly needed the space. But it had all came flooding back to him; the phone call, picking her up, Alex accusing him of driving like a maniac as they made their way to the hospital - accusing him of so much more later on. He'd been surprised that they hadn't been asked to leave, the stream of words that had left Alex's mouth. It had all been one hell of an experience that was for sure but not one he wished to endure again. Much like the duration of the pregnancy he'd felt completely helpless throughout the birth, inwardly cringing at the pain Alex was experiencing and taking out his concerns and fears on the medical staff and with more choice language than Alex had used. All he'd been able to do was hold her hand; at the time it had felt like she'd leave her mark on him but he'd come out of it remarkably unscathed. Until now, anyway.

He edged further towards her bed but didn't sit down. "The boy needed a name," he offered firmly, his eyes briefly dropping to his son and that new and unfamiliar warm glow seared through him at the sight. Despite his musings on the topic he had been reluctant to agree to a name before the baby was born. He wasn't superstitious - that was all nonsense - it was just a precaution. But once their son was here, and he'd stared at his tiny face for the first timw, he'd known exactly what to call him. And when everyone had asked last night he'd been too happy, and maybe a little bit drunk, not to tell them.

"So you just decided?" Alex quietly fumed, unappeased by his explanation.

"I'm his Dad." It was a poor defence really. Maybe he should have consulted her first, she did look pretty pissed off with him. He couldn't remember why it hadn't occurred to him to share his revelation before he'd left them both last night. It was too late now though; he couldn't exactly take back what he had said the previous night, not without looking a complete idiot - or worse - anyway. Besides, it was a good name for the boy. It suited him.

"Then I hope it goes with Drake," she said evenly, the words tumbling out in annoyance. It wasn't something she'd ever planned on doing, she had no intention of giving her child another man's surname. But it irked her that after weeks of procrastination he'd just suddenly decided on a name without her. And had then told everybody else first.

"Eh?" Gene replied, finally sitting down on the bed next to his new family. Alex was tenderly cradling their child but the look she was throwing him was anything but friendly. "What do you mean? His surname is going to be Hunt."

"Why? Why does he get your name? I'm the one that carried him for nine months! I'm the one that gave birth to him."

"If you'd bloody married me when I'd asked you to we wouldn't even be having this conversation!" he hit back, trying to keep his voice low but annoyed enough by her suggestion to fail. Their baby stirred slightly at the noise and he wasn't sure if the frown now residing on Alex's mouth was the result of his tone or what he'd said - though he hoped it wasn't the latter. It wasn't as if he'd quietly seethed about her reluctance to marry him but it had niggled him, enough to think about asking her again - especially now. But not like this.

Alex sighed softly as she soothed her baby, a wave of tiredness suddenly washing over her and taking some of her anger with it. She didn't want to argue with Gene, not here and not like this, and there seemed little point in arguing further over something that she had no intention of doing. And the mention of marriage had taken the wind out of her too. She'd convinced herself that he was okay with the answer she had given him all those months ago. Obviously not. Maybe she shouldn't have been surprised - he was old fashioned in some respects whilst she was distinctively ahead of her time in this world. Not that she thought they wouldn't be arguing now if she had went with her heart that day and agreed to marry him. "You'd have still chosen his name without me," she said quietly.

Her eyes slowly met his again, compounding the hurt her voice had carried and it only occurred to him then that she'd hit out over the boy's surname in retaliation. He was relieved by that thought but he was also disappointed by her obvious change of subject. He could understand why she was annoyed with him though and it was possibly even the same reason she seemed reluctant to marry him. He suspected that marriage, for Alex, meant an entirely equal partnership - something he hadn't quite perfected yet. "Probably," he admitted softly, cautiously reaching out and resting his hand upon a blanketed leg. He was going to have to apologise. Or tell her the truth. "When I held him, I just knew, Alex," he offered and her gaze softened a little at his confession. "And I was so proud of him, and of you, that I had to tell everyone."

She sighed again; she was going to give in, to agree to whatever name he'd chosen all because of a few words and the way he'd whispered them so lovingly to her. Perhaps sensing his victory, he smiled at her then, the smile that always made her crumble and she groaned inwardly; if their son had inherited his father's smile she was in very serious trouble. "What are we calling him, then?"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Apologies for the delay - best laid plans and all that. And apologies for the fluffiness of this (and the previous) chapter. Anyway, as promised, one last snapshot...

She held back the smile that the sight of him sprawled on the couch, his clothes mostly back in place except for his shirt which remained un-tucked and partially buttoned, had stirred within her. He looked more like the cat that had got the cream than the Manc lion but she couldn't hold it against him – she knew exactly how he felt. If she'd been told at the beginning of her strange journey through this world that this was the road she'd travel she'd never have believed it. She'd have fought against it, even. But that had been then; it was so very different now. She made her way over to Gene and settled down next to him, the faint smell of smoke clinging to him and she breathed his scent in, letting that smile reach her lips. It was almost perfect. There was just one little change that she wanted to make and it involved his co-operation.

"Is he okay?" Gene asked, one arm drawing her closer in. He was guessing that she'd been in their son's room whilst he'd stepped out for a smoke. He didn't think that they'd been loud enough to wake the boy, just opportunistic - something that he was becoming accustomed to since they'd had their lives, and their home, overrun by someone who could barely walk or talk.

"Fast asleep," she reported quietly, smiling wider at being caught out by Gene. She hadn't been able to resist looking in on their son even though she'd known that she'd find him exactly as his father had left him earlier that evening: sprawled out on his back, the ear of the teddy bear that Shaz and Chris had bought for him in one chubby hand and his soft snores floating around the room. His birth had changed everything and not just with the chaos and friction that babies brought to their parents' lives. Yes, he was gorgeous and it had been an absolute joy to watch him grow and thrive over the last year, his own individual personality shining through, but those same events had further blurred the line between this life and the one she'd left behind, between reality and fantasy.

Gene murmured his approval and her hand sought out that familiar spot on his chest, finding his heart beating reassuringly beneath her palm, the skin warm beneath her fingers. How had she ever thought he wasn't real, couldn't be real? His own hand came to rest on hers in response, the gesture quietly assuring and urging her on. "Gene?" she asked, tilting her head back so she could see his face.

"Mmm?" he replied, glancing down at her affectionately. His eyes came to rest upon hers with the same sense of familiarity that her hand had used to snake under his shirt just moments earlier and a sleepy, yet satisfied, smile crept onto his lips. Before she'd teetered into his life in those high heels and stockings he would never have thought that spending an evening at home - albeit a proper 'family home' - with the woman he loved, their son slumbering peacefully upstairs, could even equal a night spent getting legless down the pub with the lads. In fact, he'd gone out of his way to persuade himself it couldn't but she'd given him plenty of evidence to prove otherwise. There was something so very addictive about coming home and being greeted by his son's smile. And Alex, well she was much better to look at than Ray or Chris and their 'activities' were infinitely more enjoyable but there was more to it than that: he was actually content - a status he'd long given up on achieving.

Her smile lingered as his thumb began to rub softly against the back of her hand and she lost herself in his gaze for a moment. She'd always been so certain that she wouldn't marry again. Her previous experience with matrimony had made her wary of going there a second time, not that she'd ever expected the situation to arise again either. After her messy and less than acrimonious divorce she'd concentrated on focussing all of her love upon her daughter; finding another husband was the very last item on her list. Then she'd met Gene, had found herself falling in love with him to the extent that when he had, in his round about way, proposed to her she'd been caught out by the unexpected desire to say yes as much as by the offer itself. But history (or future history) had warned her that love, as wonderful as it felt at the time, wasn't always enough, didn't always last. Torn over those conflicting feelings she'd taken the middle ground and went with 'maybe'. It had felt like the right answer at the time, and maybe back then it really had been, but lately she'd found herself questioning that decision.

She was sure that the desire to marry him had been there for some time but she'd only really acknowledged it as this year, and its Leap Year attributes, had rolled around. Watching the bond between Gene and their son bud and then blossom so spectacularly had certainly swayed her - and had also made her fall just that little bit more in love with him. And his continued commitment to both herself and their son had definitely helped; she felt sure that, unlike her ex, Gene wasn't going to abandon either her or their son – if anything it would be her who would be torn away from them, a thought that continued to taint her days despite her efforts to put it to the back of her mind. Gene was waiting for her to continue, curiosity now in his eyes, and she took a deep breath before continuing. "You know that today is a Leap Day...?" she began slowly.

"Course I do," he answered quickly but experience warned him that his agreement was only the beginning. She was obviously leading up to something else though he had no idea what. A little more alert at that thought he scrutinised her further, surprised to find that whatever was on her mind seemed to be making her nervous and that wasn't like his Alex at all.

"And that women are allowed to propose marriage on this one day?" she smiled as she continued with the theme. Once she'd admitted to herself that she wanted to marry him, the idea of her doing the proposing had seemed appropriate; in doing so she was not only making a commitment to him but to this world too. A final declaration that there was no going back; that she couldn't go back; that she wouldn't go back. There'd only been one thing that had bothered her. He loved her, she was as certain of that as she was of her own feelings for him, but it had occurred to her that he might not agree. It was 'man and wife', after all; he might be all for marriage - and she was fairly certain that it meant more to him than he was willing to admit to - but only at his asking and if he turned her down out of some stupid form of male pride, even just so he could then ask her, she knew it wouldn't feel the same somehow.

"Allowed, Bols?" Gene repeated the word she'd used incredulously. "Wouldn't have thought you'd need anybody's permission to do anything," he smiled at her. It was only as he finished the sentence that the idea she might be leading him in this direction for a specific reason occurred to him. His thumb stilled its movements at the revelation.

"Well, no," she said softly in agreement, leaning away from him slightly, her hand dropping from his loosening grip to come to rest on his knee instead. "But it's also the day that men are allowed to say 'yes'," she pursued, directing the conversation back to marriage and away from her, watching his reaction carefully. The simplest thing would have been to just ask him outright and be done with it but it had seemed like a good idea to make sure he was aware of the politics of this day, to make it easier for him to say yes.

Gene feigned complete ignorance for a moment whilst he digested her words. Was she really suggesting marriage, after all this time? True, she hadn't exactly said 'no' when he had first suggested that they get married though she hadn't said 'yes' either. But what was also true was that despite her 'maybe', despite the chance it had offered, he had never asked her again. He had thought of doing so, on more than one occasion, but he hadn't taken it any further than that. They were happy as they were, the three of them together, a family - just not one by name. He had been trying to persuade himself that a piece of paper didn't really matter as long as he had her and their boy in his life, as long as everyone else knew that they were both his. But if he was honest with himself it was the thought that she would only turn him down again if he did ask that had really held him back. "Is that so?" he said calmly, not betraying any of the emotions that were fighting for his attention right then.

His face was impassive, reflecting the neutrality of his words and she paused for a moment. It was the same look he'd given her when she'd admitted that she'd wanted more time away from work so she could be with her son instead. They'd discussed it briefly previously, her assertion that she'd return to work sooner rather than later clashing with his ideas about a woman's place being at home with the children, so she'd expected some gloating at the very least but it hadn't come - she'd only received the careful consideration he was giving her now. At least she knew he was following her. "Would you say yes?" she asked, only aware of how familiar the words sounded when they'd left her mouth. And suddenly very aware of how he must have felt when he'd first broached the subject with her.

He felt the smile tugging at the muscles in his face at her question. She really was going to ask him to marry her and despite the fact that they were going to do this completely the wrong way round something inside of him surged at the thought of her becoming his wife. He would say yes, of course, though the finer details would have to remain a secret between the two of them. New Years bollocks or not he didn't want people knowing that she'd asked him or that he'd said yes. "Would I say yes if a woman asked me to marry her today?" he asked casually, holding back his smile and unable to resist teasing her just a little.

"Yes," she answered with an exasperated huff, wondering if she had completely misread his reaction and he in fact had no idea what she was talking about. Or he was playing hard to get.

"That would depend on who was asking," he replied, struggling to remain serious.

It was the twinkle in his eyes that gave him away and confirmed her suspicions. She gave him a gentle smack across his chest, mostly out of relief rather than anything else, and he caught her hand as she tried to retract it, placing it back over his heart and holding it there. He smiled at her, that full open smile that she adored so much. The smile that was now telling her all she needed to know. "Marry me, Gene?"


End file.
